The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of seeking to manipulate public opinion toward independence through diplomatic allies, after Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega referred to Tsai as president of the “Republica de Taiwan.”
Speaking at a morning news conference in Taipei, KMT Culture and Communications Committee Deputy Director Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said there should be no confusion about the nation’s official name.
“Tsai is apparently trying to manipulate the domestic issue of independence and unification via diplomacy and through the mouth of a diplomatic ally. It is despicable,” Hung said.
Ortega introduced Tsai, who is on a nine-day visit to Central America, as the head of state of the “Republica de Taiwan” in his inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.
Hung said Tsai should be reminded that she is now the president of the Republic of China (ROC) and that her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) holds a majority in the ROC legislature.
“The party with which the diplomatic allies Tsai visited in her trip signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations with is also the ROC,” Hung added.
“‘Taiwan’ is simply an amicable term for the ROC, but we should allow no compromise on the nation’s official title,” Hung said.
“Just like some people might refer to the president as ‘Hsiao Ing’ (小英) to show friendliness, her full name is still Tsai Ing-wen and will never be ‘Tsai Hsiao-ing,’” Hung said.
At the news conference, the KMT also released the results of a survey conducted by the party through instant messaging app Line from Monday to Wednesday.
The survey, which garnered 1,470 responses, asked people to choose three from a list of eight controversial issues that they felt most strongly about.
The top three issues were pension reform, with 917 votes; the new “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” labor policy, with 817 votes; and the issue of food imports from prefectures in Japan after the nuclear meltdown in 2011, with 786 votes.
The labor policy was passed by the legislature last month to bring about a 40-hour workweek policy.
Food imports from the Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba were suspended on March 25, 2011, due to fears that the areas might have been contaminated by radiation due to the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
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